1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computerized video rental system which includes not only point-of-sale terminals, but also a videocassette dispensing terminal. More specifically, the invention relates to such a system with a videocassette reservation feature.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rental of videocassettes is becoming increasingly popular as more and more individuals and families acquire videocassette recorders. Typically, an individual seeking to rent cassettes purchases, or is assigned at no charge, a membership at a particular rental store or chain of rental stores. Membership establishes that the store is willing to loan valuable pre-recorded videocassettes to a person who will be responsible for returning the pre-recorded videocassette within or close to the rental period. Once such a membership has been obtained, the individual is free to browse through the collection of available pre-recorded videocassettes on display at the store, and choose from among the available cassettes for overnight rental at a prescribed rental rate. Ordinarily, the individual will take the empty jackets of the desired cassettes to the rental counter and the store clerk will retrieve the corresponding cassettes, if available. Alternatively, "live merchandise" (pre-recorded videocassettes left in their protective jackets) is displayed on the store's shelving and secured by a system of stickers and doorway detectors, in which case the customer hands the desired cassettes to the store clerk. In either case, in order to register the rental transaction, the store clerk proceeds to enter both the individual's membership number and the cassettes being rented into the store's videocassette rental system. Such rental systems, whether manual or computerized, must minimally keep track of:
(1) the customer who made the rental; PA0 (2) the title rented (and preferably the copy number of that title); PA0 (3) when the rental occurred; and PA0 (4) when the videocassette was due back and when it was actually returned.
The rental store must keep track of the above information so that the proper rental fee can be calculated (either manually or automatically) when the cassette is returned (even if the fee is paid in advance). Moreover, it is important for the rental store to maintain accurate inventory, not only of which cassettes remain in stock, but of cassettes which have been renting most often so that additional copies of frequently requested titles can be purchased to ensure an adequate supply, and so that slow renting titles can be sold while they still have value.
In recent years, most video store rental systems have become computerized. In such computerized systems, rental and return transactions are entered by the clerks through point-of-sale (POS) terminals at the store counter, each of which is coupled to the store's host computer.
Unfortunately, however, when the video store closes and the clerks leave, all rental activity must necessarily cease, and yet some customers would be very interested in obtaining a videocassette after the store has closed. Furthermore, 100% of the revenue from a tape that cannot be rented because it is locked in the store is lost profit. Thus, automated videocassette dispensing terminals, analogous to bank automatic teller machines, would be quite valuable to video rental stores.
Although automated videocassette dispensing machines (VDMs) have been built, sold and used in quantity, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,150 to Blumberg, these units have never been made, designed or even proposed to work with a store's computerized videocassette rental system. As such, the inventory records they maintain must be merged each day with the records maintained by the store's computerized videocassette rental system, and record-keeping becomes tedious, not only because cassettes are being rented throughout each day, but because titles are constantly being added and deleted from stock as customer preferences change. Generally, because separate inventories are maintained, cassettes rented from a VDM must be returned to that VDM. Thus, the VDM must be capable of mechanically accepting, recognizing, and registering returns, as well as authorizing credit or accepting payment (whether at rental or return). If payment is not made at time of rental or return, the VDM operator must add a billing system resulting in credit authorization, clerical, financial and bad debt burdens. Moreover, whenever a new title is added, it must be separately keyed into both the store's system and the VDM. Similarly, when authorized members are added, they must be keyed into both the store's system and the VDM. VDM's must also provide physical security around the entire machine to protect their expensive contents. For all the above reasons, VDM's are inherently complex, expensive and unreliable.
The concept of providing an automated videocassette dispensing terminal conveniently located in supermarkets, convenience store, office buildings, and apartment buildings for customer use and remote from a central processing location has also been disclosed in the prior art, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,040 to Gould et al. In accordance with the teachings of this patent, the terminal is coupled to a central processing location via a communications link. The terminal supplies the selected videocassette directly to the customer upon acceptance of an order. Customer billing and control of inventory of videocassettes at the terminal are handled at the processing location.
While the above-described system might be preferable over stand-alone VDM's from an inventory management standpoint, the system is not integrated with a store's existing automated videocassette rental system and the corresponding POS terminals manned by clerks. Thus, again, the system must do all the functions of a video store itself, including authorizing rentals, accepting returns and maintaining inventory (which would have to be merged with the store's inventory and membership lists if cassettes are also rented by clerks). Moreover, none of the above prior art systems are configured to permit a customer to reserve a title in advance and pick up the reserved videocassette from a VDM. Thus, a considerable amount of business is lost because customers are unwilling to make frequent trips to the video store, only to find that the desired videocassette has already been rented. Also, even if the store has a VDM, customers that use the VDM to rent videocassettes after the store closes are limited to the particular titles remaining in the VDM at that time. Customers are likely to become frustrated and discontinue such after hours trips to the VDM if all desirable titles stocked in the VDM are continually rented early in the evening.